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What are Fats?
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or food.
They are solid at room temperature. Two types of fats are solid at room temperature. They are saturated fats and trans fats.
Saturated fat is also known as solid fat. Saturated fat in fish and poultry is less when compared to animal fat or red meat. This fat can increase your cholesterol levels. Tropical oils such as cocoa butter, coconut oil, and palm oil also have saturated fats. It is mostly found in non-dairy products and snacks in large quantities. Cakes, butter, and cookies are some examples of food containing maximum saturated fats.
A fat is changed to increase its shelf life. The process to make this change happen is called hydrogenation. This fat is harder at room temperature. The importance of trans fat is that it makes flakier pie crusts and crispier crackers. It is found in cookies, chips, processed food, etc. Avoid eating or consuming fewer foods containing trans fats as it increases your cholesterol levels.
What are Oils?
Fats that are liquid at room temperature are called oils.
Unsaturated fats belong to this category. Consuming food containing unsaturated fat helps improve cholesterol levels. There are two types of unsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats.
Monounsaturated fat is found in nuts, vegetable oils, and avocado. Consuming food that is rich in monounsaturated fats helps in controlling cholesterol levels by keeping high good HDL cholesterol and lowering bad LDL cholesterol.
Polyunsaturated fat is found in oils such as sunflower, cor,n, and soybean. Seafood majorly consists of these fats. Replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat in food consumption may help in lowering LDL cholesterol. There are two types of polyunsaturated fats. They are Omega 3 and Omega 6.
Difference between Fats and Oils Table
To make you understand how Oils and fats are different from each other, here are some major differences between oils and fats:
Source: Online/OFA
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